RE: [psychohistory] What can a Society Do?

From: Chen Yixiong, Eric (cyixiong@yahoo.com)
Date: Tue Sep 11 2001 - 22:15:49 MDT


> Actually it isn't Godel's (which just says some statements can't be found
> definitively true or false - it is undecidable). However, Arrow's
> Impossibility Theorem does(!) do exactly what you want.

According to the Theorem page at:
http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/m/j/mjd1/arrowimpossibilitytheorem.htm

I think I did not draw parallels to my writings below. The theorm seems to apply for democratic systems, but here I write about systems in general. I think we had referred to different versions of Godel's Theorem, where I use this version : "No system of rules can have both completeness and consistency (including social systems applied to humans)".

I do wish to eloborate on, concerning this Theorm (which I did know of earlier but did not write about). This shows the limitations of democratic decision making and should wake up some of those who firmly believe in democracy to the Godel's Theorem's Limitations. Hence, I hope these people will consider alternative systems which apply only selectively, such as the one I advocate (in Project Sociologistics).

Thanks for sharing this information with me anyway. I know I still have a lot to learn from all of you here.

> > Notes: Godel's Incompleteness Theorem forbids any system that claims to
> > cater for all people in all situations. Surely, the claims by
> > capitalist-anarchists do not work because of such. While the Theory of
> > Evolution may *appear* to apply to human society, it fails (as the
> > Theorm predicts) to apply to human societies because humans can and will
> > think out of the system. Placed in simple terms, humans can and do
> > exploit the social systems they encounter. This ability confers the
> > ability to lie, to see through paradoxes and to "make-believe", and
> > confers the greatest difference between a human and a Turing machine.
> > Evolution Theory applies well only to beings simple enough to remain
> > within the system rules.

_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Oct 12 2001 - 14:40:29 MDT